Through the Lens: South America.

May 28, 2020 Leave a Comment by freya stevens Opinion

There’s something pleasantly surprising about walking down streets in South America. You never know if you’ll come across some amazing (but sometimes oddly placed) street art, a protest, someone selling fruit and veg on their doorstep, a friendly street dog or friendly local, an unexpected beautiful view or the face of Simone de Beauvoir. If you’re in need of walking down a bustling street, full of people, life and noise, you know where to aim to go as soon as lockdown is lifted.

Chile, the homeland of countless natural beauties, world renowned poets, pisco and llamas… none of this would be complete without its vibrant streets, lined with hundreds of electricity cables tangled at some point in almost every road, its street food, or the amazing street art… especially well known in Valparaiso.

The trademark of Chilean streets: the tangled wires.

A ship arrived from Valparaiso,
Dropped its anchor in the bay,
Her name reminded me of kingdoms,
Sunlit countries far away.
Come along with me she whispered,
Far from cloud and mist for you’ll,
Find beneath the Andes Mountains,
An awesome city – bright as a jewel.

Valparaiso by Pádraig de Brún.

Valparaiso, the birthplace of (ironically) both Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet – but also of some of the best empanadas in the country (in my opinion).

Further inland lies the country’s capital city: Santiago de Chile.
The skyline of Santiago is marked by the Grand Torre Santiago, the tallest building in Latin America at 260 meters tall, and specially built to withstand the country’s frequent earthquakes. Walking down the streets of Santiago, you will almost always catch a glimpse of either the Grand Torre, or the Andes.

Protests and marches are frequent on the streets of Santiago, now more than ever. This peaceful protest against domestic violence saw around 2 million people, mainly women, taking to the streets and showing their frustration through creative dances and songs.

In a city with such a rich and vibrant culture, cultural icons can be spotted on almost every other street. Simone de Beauvoir, author of The Second Sex, is portrayed here wearing the Green Scarf, created by Argentinian pro-abortion activists, which is now the emblem of the fight for abortion rights in Latin America.

In a country which is 2,653 miles long, home to infinite scenes of natural beauty,
sometimes the sun setting on the colourful streets of Santiago is the most eye catching of them all.

Further north in Chile lies San Pedro de Atacama, close to the driest place on earth, where the streets are a little more peaceful. With almost no light pollution or pollution at all, these quiet streets are the spot for some of the best stargazing in the world.

And just as peacefully across the border in streets of Uyuni, Bolivia…

A woman wearing the traditional Bolivian attire, sitting down the road from the Train Cemetery
in the small city of Uyuni.

After thousands of tourists flock every year to see the nearby Uyuni Salt Flats
(and I am guilty of being one of those tourists) the secluded streets of Uyuni are then left to the locals.

Across another border, the streets were a bit more lively.

“Peru, Peru. My heart’s lighthouse.”
Steven Patrick Morrissey.

A woman carrying shopping in traditional Peruvian bags down the street of Arequipa.

These men walk down the streets of Cuzco, the city which was once the capital of the Inca Empire,
*located at an altitude of 3,400 meters*. (They could deal better with the high altitude than I could.)

The only thing more satisfying than buying delicious, fresh street-fruit from a woman
sitting under a well-placed ‘for sale’ sign…

…is buying it from a mobile banana stall going down the street.

Easter Island: the enigma of the Pacific.

Amongst some of the very few most remote inhabited islands in the world,
there are only two main streets going across the Rapa Nui island.
One of the old recorded names for Easter Island, ‘Te Pito o te Henua’, can be translated as
‘the end of the world’.

And in the country which gave birth to the tango and gauchos, the streets of Buenos Aires are lined with lively music, friendly locals and more bright colours.